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THE RELATIVE DUTIES OF MANKIND.

[Part III.

of unity of feeling, design, and action, every thing in a familymust inevitably go wrong ; and coldness and gloom, if not distrustand discord, will be guests, where quiet, peace, tranquillity, mu-tual regard and confidence ought to reign with unbroken sway.Quietness under our own roof, and quiet in our own consciences,are blessings of unknown value, for the want of which nothing canatone. “ Abroad,” says an admirable writer, “ we must moreor less find tribulation ; yet, as long as our home is a secure andpeaceful retreat from all the disappointments and cares whichwe meet with in that great scene of vexation, the world, we maystill be tolerably happy. But, if that which should be our mainsanctuary from uneasiness becomes our principal disquietude,how great must our uneasiness be. There cannot be a greatercurse, than to have those of one’s own household one’s greatestfoes ; when we neither can live happily with them, nor mustthink of living apart from them.” Again, “To see a well-regulated family, acting as if they were one body informed byone soul, where, if one member suffers, all the members sufferwith it ; to see those who are embarked together in one bottom,whose interests are inseparably united, and therefore whosehearts ought to be so too, acting in concert, adopting each other’scares and making them their own, uniting their friendly beams,and jointly promoting the common happiness, is a beautiful scene,and amiable even in the sight of that Being, who maketh men tobe of one mind in a house. How joyful a thing it is for breth-ren to dwell together in unity.” *

How just a picture does our Saviour draw, when he says,“ Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation ;and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand.” fParty distraction, conflicting interests and passions, abuse andviolence, strife and bitterness, are sometimes sufficiently afflictivein kingdoms, commonwealths, and cities ; but in families, whenonce they break forth, they rage with ten-fold virulence and mis-chief. “ When peace and tranquillity are banished from all placeselse on the earth, the condition of life still remains tolerable,while harmony presides around the domestic altar.

* Jeremiah Seed’s Sermons, Vol. I. pp. 39, 44. t Matt. xii. 25.

t See Bishop Jeremy Taylor’s Sermons, Vol. I. p. 323.